It has been a very exciting few years for the global casino and sports betting market with major changes in a number of different countries – the US has been the most notable with 2018 bringing the ability for individual states to make their own decisions around iGaming and betting markets leading to the widespread launch of different casino and sportsbooks options since and seeing some impressive numbers coming from the states that first initiated change here. Research has since been conducted to discover where the market could go, and current forecasts estimate the market come grow from the current figure of around $129.2 billion with a growth at around 4% every year to be valued at $150 billion by 2026.
This figure takes into account both the growing online iGaming market as well as the currently existing land based casino market too, with the expectation that land-based gambling machines should continue to experience quite significant growth in this period of time and alone should be valued at $77.4 billion by 2026, but the report didn’t signify the potential huge impact that iGaming could have from the mobile gaming market. Whether this coming from changing regulation or new deals that have recently been signed to expand, the mobile space and online platforms certainly look to be a huge contribution in the expansion of casinos as a whole – the report did cite how changes in technology could change expectations however, citing virtual reality and artificial intelligence could have a huge impact on the way games are played and experienced by the growing audience, and how newer tech like 5G networks could enable a much wider audience too with significant improvements to performance, customization, and flexibility.
The report did look at some key markets, but neglected others too – it said with the current changes occurring, the US and Canada could be key markets with the Asia-Pacific sector also accounting for much of the growth to be seen and also mentioned Europe as noteworthy and expected between 3% to 3.3% growth but one of the notable exceptions here has been the growing African market in iGaming too – whilst still quite small in comparison, it is one of the fastest growing tech markets in the world and iGaming could find a very strong foothold there as services become more accessible and usage increases over time too – either way it’s a very exciting period for all markets involved, and casinos and sportsbooks have a very bright future ahead if this forecast figure can be reached by 2026.